


Illumination

by artikgato



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Christmas, M/M, some suggestive dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21918271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artikgato/pseuds/artikgato
Summary: Yu takes his boyfriend out to see some of the most famous Christmas Illuminations in Tokyo.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55
Collections: Souyo Secret Santa Gift Exchange 2019





	Illumination

**Author's Note:**

  * For [treya_barton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/treya_barton/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Treya! I couldn't decide whether I wanted to write the partners going to see holiday lights or drinking hot chocolate, so I did both. This is set in 2013 in Tokyo, and the places they visit are real places! There are some links to articles and Youtube videos at the bottom of the fic for reference.

Yosuke Hanamura was _stressed_. 

Well, stressed was kind of an understatement. If there was a word suitable to convey the sheer amount of stressed that Yosuke was, he certainly didn’t know it. As he stared out at the ever-increasingly long line of customers at his register, he found himself thinking, not for the first time, that he actually kind of missed Inaba, if for no other reason than the fact that the lines never got this long because there just weren’t that many people that lived in Inaba. 

At least he didn’t have to deal with school for the moment, since he was a couple of days into winter break. Of course, all that meant for him was that instead of attending lectures and barely scraping by on his tests he was just putting in more hours at his job, and was that better? No! At least at school he didn’t have to deal with rude customers or screaming children. Speaking of which, the next customer in line was a harried-looking woman with three crying children clinging to her. Yosuke wanted to scream as their incessant shrieking grated on his ears, but he just smiled politely and helped the woman with her transaction, cashiering literally as fast as possible to get her out of the store more quickly so he could have some shred of sanity back in his life. 

Things were looking kind of bleak, but Yosuke was keeping a close eye on the clock, and if there was any solace it was that the store would be closing in two hours. Assuming there weren’t many stragglers left in the store after close, Yosuke would probably get back to his apartment around 11pm, not a terrible prospect for the Saturday before Christmas. And the paycheck would be well worth it, he told himself, as he started ringing up the next customer’s items, working almost entirely on autopilot. The shrill screams of the children got quieter and eventually faded into nothing, and Yosuke let himself breathe a sigh of relief. 

In a little under three hours he’d be back in his apartment, possibly in the arms of his loving boyfriend slash roommate, probably eating whatever delicious warm meal Yu had made for the night. An enticing prospect. He could last another three hours, he _could_. And after that he only had one more day of work, because he had managed to put in his time-off request for Christmas Eve before any of his coworkers and was lucky enough to actually get the day off. Most of it would be spent traveling to Inaba, but the train ride was valuable catch-up-on-video-games time. Plus, he got to spend the whole train ride with Yu. 

To say he was a little lost in his thoughts was an understatement. His mouth was saying the Junes approved chatter to each customer, his hands were scanning and bagging the items as they arrived to him on the conveyor belt, he was pressing the right buttons and handing over receipts, but his brain just wasn’t there. His brain was in his apartment, snuggling on the couch with Yu while they watched the evening news. His brain was on the train back to Inaba, sitting next to Yu and leaning against him just a little while he played one of his as of yet untouched Vita games. His brain was— 

“Hanamura,” the voice of his supervisor cut through his thoughts, sending him almost immediately into a panic. He finished handing the newest customer her receipt and stammered out a “Happy holidays from Junes!” at her as she gathered up her bags. He saw someone else slide into place in front of his register, but didn’t have time to see who it was before he was turning to see his supervisor standing beside him, looking amused. Oh god, what was going on? Was it obvious that he wasn’t 100% focused on cashiering? Was he going to be written up, or worse, fired? Why did his boss look _amused_?

“Don’t look so alarmed, Hanamura, I’m just here to tell you that your shift is over as soon as you’re done ringing up the next customer,” he said. Yosuke blinked up at his supervisor, uncomprehending.

“Am-am I getting fired?” he eventually asked, and his supervisor laughed.

“No, no. Look, why don’t you help out your last customer? I think you’ll understand if you do,” the older man instructed, and it was obvious he was _extremely_ amused by the situation. Utterly baffled, Yosuke turned to greet the customer and nearly choked on the breath he had taken to deliver the standard Junes greeting.

“Welcome to Ju— P-Partner?!” he blurted out, staring in shock at the smiling face of his boyfriend, who was not, as Yosuke had thought, back at their apartment working on dinner like he almost always was at this time of night. No, he was definitely standing in front of Yosuke’s register with a devious look on his face, silver hair perfectly styled as always, glinting silver eyes framed by a stylish pair of black-framed glasses Yosuke had _never_ seen on him, dressed to kill in a black button-down with his heavy wool coat draped over an arm. Yosuke stared in shock for a few more seconds, before squawking out a “What?”

“Hanamura, is that any way to greet a customer?” his supervisor said, although he could tell the man was laughing. Yosuke flushed and turned back to Yu, who also looked amused. 

“Uh, sorry. Welcome to Junes, your one-stop shop for holiday gifts!” Yosuke said, and to his relief the phrase that he’d been saying probably hundreds of times per day since early November actually settled his nerves a little. 

“Thank you,” his boyfriend replied, still looking amused. Yosuke turned to grab the items that Yu was evidently buying, and froze when he saw what was actually on the conveyor belt. For starters, there was the fur-lined coat he’d been eyeballing all season, a nice creamsicle orange color with white fur and gold accents. He hadn’t bought it yet because his white jacket from high school was still technically functional, though definitely starting to show its age. A set of white gloves and a matching creamsicle orange scarf accompanied the jacket. But that wasn’t all — there were two sets of hand warmers, an assortment of candies and snacks, and two travel mugs from the bakery, which proved to be full of some kind of steaming, still-hot drink when Yosuke picked them up to scan them. And finally at the end was one of the holiday cards they sold, specifically one of the ones that had a sprig of genuine mistletoe attached to it.

“You should read that,” Yu instructed, and Yosuke glanced up at him with a curious expression, but opened the card and read.

> _I asked your boss to let you leave early today so we can go see something special. It’s a surprise, so don’t even bother asking. Xoxo, Yu_

The message was accompanied by a bunch of hearts that had been clearly drawn with the same pen that was used to write the message. Judging by the length of the line, Yu had probably gotten bored and drawn them while he waited. Yosuke just chuckled and scanned the card, walking Yu through the rest of the transaction and carefully bagging up the items. As promised, once he was done with the transaction his boss stepped in and took over the line.

“Have fun, Hanamura. But not too much fun, I still need you to work tomorrow,” his supervisor told him, with a wink. He went red instantly and scurred away, Yu laughing as he followed close behind him. 

“What did you _say_ to him?” Yu blurted out, as soon as they were safely behind the ‘employees only’ doors. Yu technically wasn’t supposed to come back here with him, but Yosuke was very confident that none of his coworkers or supervisors would care.

“That I wanted to take you out tonight to see something special, and that the event would be almost over by the time your shift ended,” Yu answered. 

“You didn’t imply anything else to him, did you?” Yosuke asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Yosuke shook his head. 

“No, I think he jumped to conclusions all on his own,” Yu answered, still grinning. “But it’s nice that he’s so supportive, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know if _nice_ is the word,” Yosuke sighed, already dreading the ribbing he’d be getting from said supervisor and his other coworkers. They quickly reached the employee break area and Yosuke quickly stripped out of his Junes apron, shoving it into his locker and retrieving his keys, wallet and cell phone. Before he could even _think_ about reaching for his weathered old white coat, Yu had practically shoved the new orange one into his hands.

“Okay, I _have_ to know how you managed to pick this specific one out,” Yosuke said, even as he was pulling off the many tags and slipping it on. “Do you just know me _that_ well?”

“Well, yes,” Yu replied. “But in this case, one of your coworkers overheard me asking your boss to let you off shift two hours early, and she pointed it out. She said she’s seen you go check the tag and try it on a few times over the season, and you always looked kind of sad when you put it back.” 

“O-oh,” he managed to reply, bright red in embarrassment. Not only had one of his coworkers seen him trying on the jacket, but they’d seen him trying it on _multiple times_ …

“Who was it? Did you catch their name?” he asked, shifting around to settle the jacket in place before zipping it up.

“A young lady by the name of Misao, I think,” Yu replied. Well, Yosuke would have to thank her for her assistance, at the very least. If he could bear to face her, anyway. 

“So, where are we going?” Yosuke asked, taking the gloves and scarf that Yu handed him and slipping them on.

“You’ll find out when we get there,” Yu replied, enigmatically, and Yosuke stuck his tongue out at him. “Hey, I told you not to ask. It’s a surprise.”

“Okay, okay,” Yosuke sighed.

The pair managed to make it out of the store without being stopped, which was practically a miracle, and once they were outside Yu handed Yosuke one of the plastic mugs and led the way to the nearest subway station. Yu made Yosuke stand far enough away from the ticket booth that he couldn’t hear the destination, to which Yosuke folded his arms and pouted, but ultimately did as he was asked. He was actually kind of excited about the surprise destination, and the surprise time off from his job. This definitely beat trudging home alone in the dark. He popped up the plastic tab on the mug and sniffed. Yu had gotten him hot chocolate, it seemed. He took a sip but almost immediately regretted it, remembering half a second too late that the Junes bakery didn’t understand the concept of ‘drinkable temperature’ and served their beverages at roughly the temperature of the sun. Right. Maybe it’d be cool enough to drink by the time they reached their mystery destination. 

On the ride over, which turned out to be relatively short, Yosuke stopped trying to pry information about their destination out of his obstinate boyfriend and instead they filled the ride with small talk. How their respective days had gone, how excited they were to go back to Inaba for the holidays, what gifts they still needed to find for friends and family…

“Roppongi Station,” the train announcement rang out. “Roppongi Station.” Yu gathered up his own mug and the shopping bag that still had the snacks and the mistletoe card in it. Yosuke’s eyebrows shot up.

“Roppongi is our mystery destination?” he asked. “Wait, you want to show me the Midtown Illumination?” 

“It looks like fun,” Yu replied, but he looked serious. “But if you don’t want to go, I get it.” Yosuke bit his lip, feeling his anxiety spiking. Not only would it be very crowded — it _was_ the last Saturday before Christmas — but this was not something that two people just went to for fun. This was very much a couples and families thing, a romantic stroll through fields of glittering lights while huddled close together for warmth on a cold December night. 

It wasn’t that Yosuke was _ashamed_ of the fact that he was dating Yu. No, on the contrary, he was almost constantly fighting the urge to brag about the fact that he was with someone as hot and sweet and smart and _perfect_ as Yu Narukami. The fact that his bosses and coworkers knew was not intentional on his part, it had gotten out by accident and he was forever grateful that none of them seemed to think less of him for it, and many were actually supportive. Yosuke knew it wasn’t going to always be like that, and he knew he was very, very lucky that he hadn’t faced much discrimination or bullying because of the fact that he was dating another man. 

Still, up until now the dates they had gone on had either been in relatively low-traffic places, dark movie theaters, or could have been easily misinterpreted as just two friends getting dinner together or studying for midterms. _This_ was absolutely, _explicitly_ a romantic date in a high-traffic area and couldn’t be misinterpreted. 

“Now approaching Roppongi Station,” the announcement said. Yu reached over and took one of Yosuke’s gloved hands, giving it a squeeze.

“I mean it, Yosuke. Yes I went to a lot of trouble to set this up, but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I won’t be mad,” Yu said. “But if it helps at all, I think everyone else will be too busy being distracted by the lights to notice us.”

Yosuke didn’t doubt that. He’d seen clips on the news of the lights and surrounding area, had heard coworkers and customers talking about it. Truth be told he _had_ been wanting to come see it, but hadn’t wanted to go alone, and he hadn’t thought his and Yu’s work schedules would have permitted it (and, admittedly, they _wouldn’t_ have, if Yu hadn’t asked his boss to give Yosuke an extra two hours of time off, to be fair). 

“I want to,” Yosuke replied, squeezing back. “And you’re right, I don’t think anyone will care to stop looking at the lights just to pay attention to two college kids, anyway!”

The train pulled into the station and they departed into what could only be accurately described as a winter wonderland, as cliche as that was. It had snowed recently, so there were piles of snow lining the sidewalks, while glittering lights spiraled up every available surface, from shrubs to trees to light poles to buildings. Yu pulled Yosuke both literally and figuratively away from the dazzling display and they set off on the short walk to their destination. 

“So, I think I already know the answer, but what do you want to see first, Yosuke?” Yu asked. 

Yosuke opened his mouth to answer, and Yu said it along with him, “the Starlight Garden.” Yu giggled, and Yosuke laughed along with him.

“Man, Partner, am I that predictable?” he asked.

“I just know you that well,” Yu answered. They strolled along amongst the crowds of shoppers and couples, hand-in-hand as they made their way past the rows of shops and the huge outdoor Christmas market. The crowds got noticeable thicker and thicker as they made their way toward the huge display of lights that was the Starlight Road. Yosuke had seen pictures and clips of the display, but seeing it in person was breathtaking, even from a distance. It took a while to make their way through the crowd but they finally found a spot where they could squeeze in to stand side-by-side and watch the display.

Calm music played as the sea of blue and white lights dazzled, moving patterns appearing in the lights in time with the music. Arcs of white light flew through the air and appeared to impact with the “surface” of the field of lights, sending patterns of lights scattering around like ripples in water. Orbs of white light blinked on and off as the display continued, all of the lights going out and then coming back on in waves. It was mesmerizing, truly a sight to behold. They stood there for a good five or six minutes before the crowd they were in was ushered away to make room for more onlookers. Before they completely left the area around the sea of lights, Yosuke pulled Yu aside and quickly snapped a selfie of the two of them standing in front of the lights.

“That was amazing, Yu!” Yosuke exclaimed, once they had made their way through the entire display and back toward the Midtown building. Yu nodded. “Shame we couldn’t stay longer, but there are a _lot_ of people here tonight.”

Next they headed through the nearby Starlight Road toward the Christmas Market, which they had passed to get to the Starlight Garden. They walked at a leisurely pace, enjoying the unique way the trees were lit with white lights on one side of the road and blue on the other as they passed. Yosuke eventually tried his hot chocolate again, finding to his delight that it had finally cooled off to a reasonable temperature.

“Thanks for the cocoa, Partner,” he said, slurping up the drink. “You even remembered to get me dark chocolate!”

“Of course I did,” Yu replied, looking mock-affronted.

“You’re always remembering little details like that about me,” Yosuke replied, looking bashful. “Thanks.”

“It’s because I love you so much,” Yu replied, with a completely sincerely straight face. Yosuke blushed and had to look away, embarrassed. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand how you can just _say_ things like that,” Yosuke whined, but enjoyed it immensely, of course. 

“Because I love you so much,” Yu repeated, his tone teasing. Yosuke glared at him, still blushing. 

“Gah!” he grumbled. “Jerk!” Yu laughed in response. They made it a few steps before Yosuke squeezed Yu’s hand, prompting him to look over at him. “...I love you too.” Yu’s smile in response was brighter than any of the light displays, and Yosuke nearly had to look away, overwhelmed. Instead he just let Yu lead him through the market. They both picked up gifts for friends and family in Inaba, and Yosuke picked up two thank-you gifts for his supervisor and Misao-chan. 

Once they were done shopping, Yu checked the time.

“It’s still early. Want to walk over to Roppongi Hills and see the lights over there? Or do you want to see the Starlight Garden again?” he asked. Yosuke turned to look in the direction of the Starlight Road, seeing that the crowds of people were growing much thicker as the night progressed.

“Roppongi Hills sounds good,” he said, with a nod. “It’s not far, is it?”

“A ten minute walk or so. Are you up for it? You were on your feet cashiering all day,” Yu asked, and Yosuke rolled his eyes.

“Walking and standing are two different things, first of all,” he replied, grabbing Yu’s hand and pulling him toward their next destination. “And two, if I can run through dungeons filled with dangerous shadows for hours, a ten minute walk after cashiering all day is nothing.”

“And you want to see more lights,” Yu said.

“And I want to see more lights,” Yosuke admitted, with a laugh.

During the walk, Yu eventually broke their hand-hold, but only to pull some snacks out of the bag. The distance between the two rival illuminations wasn’t bare of lights either, so they got to take in thousands if not millions of twinkling lights of every color of the rainbow as they walked. They finished off the snacks and the hot chocolate, the mugs going into the shopping bag. They were actually very cute mugs, a checker pattern of red and white in the background with the Junes logo and designs of trees and presents and snowflakes scattered around. 

It wasn’t long before they arrived at their destination, Keiyakizaka Street. All of the trees on both sides of the street were decked out with blue and white lights that twinkled and sparkled in the cold air. They could clearly see Tokyo Tower, lit up yellow in the distance. It wasn’t nearly as busy as the area around the Starlight Road had been, but there were still numerous couples and families strolling up and down both sides of the street. Yu let go of Yosuke’s hand, unsure if he was still okay with the PDA in a less crowded setting, but Yosuke boldly reached over and reclaimed the hand, heat in his cheeks. They didn’t exchange words about it, but Yu smiled brightly over at him and Yosuke blushed further in response. 

A few minutes into their stroll, the blue and white lights abruptly went dark and Yosuke stopped, alarmed. Yu, who had done his research, knew that the lights were changing color as part of the tenth anniversary celebration of the Roppongi Hills Illumination. The lights flickered back on in shades of red and soft orange and candle-light yellow, and Yosuke looked around in wonder.

“Whoa,” he breathed, breaking the hand-hold but only to get out his phone and snap a few pictures, eventually turning the camera back on the two of them and getting a few more selfies. 

“Did you know about this?” Yosuke eventually asked. 

“Maybe,” Yu replied, with an enigmatic smirk. Yosuke rolled his eyes and reached down for his hand, continuing their walk. They eventually arrived at 66 Plaza, where an enormous golden Christmas tree stood. More pictures and another selfie were taken, and the pair stood looking up at the tree for a while as other couples came and went. Yosuke took a couple more pictures, and Yu happened to catch a glimpse of the time. 

“It’s getting late,” he observed, and Yosuke turned to him with a nod. “But there’s one last place I want to show you before we head home.”

“It’s not far, is it?” Yosuke asked, and Yu shook his head.

“No, no, it’s right around here,” he said, and Yosuke took his hand with a nod, letting Yu lead him away from the tree. 

True to his word, their next destination wasn’t far at all, and Yosuke felt his jaw drop when they rounded a corner and saw it. It was like a staircase of twinkling lights floating on the water of the pond in the Mori Garden, creating an effect that was like sparkling ice. The shrubs that framed the pond were also decked out in lights, though not as intense as the ones floating in the pond. A heart made of golden lights stood at the edge of the pond. Surprisingly, there weren’t any other people around at the moment, probably due to how late it was getting. Yosuke grinned and made a beeline for the heart, dragging his amused boyfriend behind him. He snapped nearly a dozen selfies, seemingly determined to get at least one perfect picture in this extremely romantic setting. While Yosuke was distracted with reviewing the photos, Yu dug around in the nearly empty shopping bag and pulled out the card he’d bought earlier.

“Yosuke, do you know about the purpose of the mistletoe attached to this card?” Yu asked, and Yosuke looked away from his phone to make a face at Yu.

“I’ve been having to push those dang cards all season, of course I know!” Yosuke replied. Yu looked at him expectantly, and he sighed. “It’s a big thing in the West, but not very popular here. You’re supposed to hang the mistletoe in a doorway somewhere, and if two people end up underneath it they have to kiss. Pretty dumb, if you ask m…”

Yosuke trailed off, because during his explanation Yu had very carefully detached the mistletoe from the card and held it above his own head with a devious grin. Yosuke boggled at him, blushed, and then whipped his head around, checking to make sure they were really alone. 

In the two years that had passed since Yu’s year in Inaba they had both grown a bit, but Yu was now slightly taller than Yosuke. Not so much that Yosuke had to go on his tiptoes or anything, but just enough that he had to tilt his head up in order to kiss Yu, which he did. Yu had been expecting a quick, hurried kiss from his shy boyfriend, and was pleasantly surprised when he felt arms wrap around his shoulders and pull him close. Mistletoe still in hand, Yu’s arms went around Yosuke’s waist.

“Thank you for tonight, Partner,” Yosuke breathed when they finally separated, pulling back just enough so that they could breathe but not far enough to break their embrace. “It was perfect. _You’re_ perfect, and I’m glad every day that you haven’t decided to dump me yet.” 

“Of course I’m not going to dump you,” Yu replied. “You’re stuck with me whether you like it or not, dummy.” Rather than respond, Yosuke just closed the distance between their mouths in another kiss. When they broke the kiss off this time they, rather reluctantly, separated from each-other, too.

“It’s getting late,” Yosuke said, as he pulled his arms away from Yu’s shoulders.

“It is, and if we keep going we’re probably going to get busted by security,” Yu added, releasing his hold on Yosuke’s waist. He held out his hand expectantly, and Yosuke eagerly grabbed it.

“I’m cold now,” he complained, and Yu laughed.

“Let’s get back to the apartment, then. I know just the way to warm you right up, _Partner_ ,” he said, and Yosuke made a distressed noise, turning bright red.

“Partnerrrr,” he whined in response, and Yu just laughed and pulled Yosuke behind him toward the train station. 

“Merry Christmas, Yosuke,” he said, looking over at him with a soft smile. 

“Merry Christmas, Yu,” Yosuke replied with a mirroring smile.

**Author's Note:**

> The places they visit in the fic are real, and I actually looked up articles and Youtube videos from 2013 to make sure I got the details right:
> 
> Starlight Garden: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhsRSAixnpM>  
> Starlight Street: [Picture](http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-12-03-starlightstreet.JPG)  
> Roppongi Hills/Keyakizaka Street: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULQ8yHDkk4o>  
> 66 Plaza Tree[Picture](http://lakbayer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Roppongi-Hills-Illumination-66-Plaza-01-240x300.jpg)  
> Mori Garden: <https://youtu.be/sRJ9LfluvSM?t=29>.  
> Article where I got most of this info: <http://lakbayer.com/roppongi-hills-illumination-2013/>


End file.
